


An Olive Branch

by Vintage_Romantic



Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: Emotional Conversations, F/F, Letters, Tumblr Prompt, a long time in the making, not really fluff but not really angst, post Hong Kong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 20:25:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10884303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vintage_Romantic/pseuds/Vintage_Romantic
Summary: Tumblr Prompt:"Mrs Busby arranges to meet Patsy alone to give her Delia's missing letters and get to know her better"Set after Patsy's return from Hong Kong.





	An Olive Branch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ctmfan82](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ctmfan82).



> For ctmfan82, thank you for the wonderful prompt!
> 
> As always many thanks to my beta ThinkBusbyThink for her wonderful edits and suggestions.
> 
> I'm imagining this will be around 3 chapters long with the possibility of a flashback scene or two.
> 
> ~Italics indicate the letters and Patsy's thoughts~

            The letter came tucked away in a larger one that announced “Congratulations” across the front. At first Patsy thought it was meant for Delia. She had just passed her midwifery exam with flying colors but the letter was addressed to Patsy.

~

            _Dear Miss Mount,_

_I heard about your father’s passing, my sincerest condolences. Enclosed you will find a letter that was meant for you but I suppose by now is long over due. I am aware our acquaintance up to this point has been less than cordial. However, in her own way Delia has made it clear that you are a permanent part of her life and that if I wish to also be in her life I must accept at least that. So for her I am trying, I can only do so much as a mother._

_It wasn’t the right thing to do, to keep these letters from you. I only had the best intentions at heart. I was trying to protect my daughter from a life I would never have wanted for her. But keeping you in the dark about her condition like this was wrong. I hope you can forgive me one day. I’ll be in town at the end of March to visit my sister Blod; perhaps we could meet for tea to talk, properly. I will bring the rest of the letters then. Please respond promptly with your answer so that I can place reservations at a teahouse more reputable than the last._

_Lastly, please be assured I did not read any of the letters. I am protective but I am not intrusive. Again, my sincerest condolences for the loss of your father. I know what it is like to lose your family at a young age and I would not wish that on anyone._

_Sincerely,_

_Mrs. Enid Busby_

~

 

            Patsy’s tea had long since grown cold on the kitchen table as she read and re-read the letter.

 

 

            “One must be mindful about wide mouths, for they make the most opportune homes for passing flies,” Sister Monica Joan preached almost absent-mindedly while walking past the astonished nurse.

 

 

            Snapping her mouth shut, Patsy shook her head and stood up. “Excuse me Sister.” She needed a smoke and fast. Delia had finally worn her down and had convinced her to quit smoking after her return from Hong Kong. Patsy thought of it as part of her penance for making Delia fear the worst for nearly two months. But the redhead kept a secret stash in case of extra difficult labours or unexpectedly stressful days. The arrival of this letter certainly qualified as stressful, the tall nurse rationalized, Mrs. Busby had reached out to her, had asked to meet her for tea… alone.

 

 

            Patsy thought back on the Mrs. Busby’s letter as she lit a slightly stale cigarette under the cloudy early-spring sky. Clasped tightly in her other hand was what she presumed to be the first of Delia’s lost letters, the ones that were meant to be sent but never made it.

 

 

            _Thanks to her,_ Patsy angrily puffed, letting the relaxing nicotine seep into her lungs with every drag.

 

 

            Shakily, Patsy reached down to open Delia’s letter. She could already feel tears pooling as she was brought back to those horrid six months when she thought she had lost Delia forever. Six months of having no one and fearing it was a life sentence. Stubbing out her low burning cigarette, Patsy sat down on the garden bench, needing the extra support to get through the letter. _Pull yourself together Mount._

_~_

_Dear Pats,_

_First and foremost I am so sorry for the delay in writing. I cannot imagine the stress you must be feeling, not knowing if your best friend will ever remember you and the things you shared. The first three months were nearly unbearable; I could barely remember my own home much less my time in London. I had forgotten the simplest things; things I thought were ingrained in me, how I like my tea, what perfume I prefer, how to hold a pen or write a letter. So I hope you’ll pardon my sloppy style for the time being. Even now I have a bit of trouble with the loops._

_To make matters worse, for the first two months I felt so utterly alone. I know that reading this may hurt you further and I’m sorry, but I know I can tell you anything, that I can be myself completely with you, and that you deserve to hear the unedited truth._

_Memories of my childhood and of my mam and da came back first. Others started creeping back in slowly, usually brought on by accident. One morning, for example, I burnt my hand attempting to make tea. Don’t fret. It was only a minor thing. But I immediately sprung into action, treating the burn with precision and ease. That’s when my memories of training and nursing came flooding back._

_Bleach. It was bleach that brought you back to me. Mam was cleaning the kitchen one gloomy afternoon and as soon as I caught a whiff of it I began to see flashes of blonde then red hair and a rather beguiling smile. Mam must have thought I gone round the bend when I offered to give the entire house a scrub down over the next week. But I wanted to piece together these memories, and this person, who simply wouldn’t leave my mind._

_It took me almost a month to connect the dots, for the memories to untangle themselves. Pats… I think I remember everything now. Some of the memories were confusing at first; for instance our outing after mid-term puzzled me for days until I remembered the night at the winter carnival and dance in ‘57, you know the one? You won me that stuffed bear. Nurse McBear, you called him. And you were wearing those plaid trousers and your red pea coat. It matched your lipstick that night and your scarf, which you so generously offered me when I had forgotten mine, back at the nurses’ home._

_Even without the full picture I never questioned any of it Pats. It all clicked together like a jigsaw puzzle and I finally felt free and whole for the first time since my accident. I am so sorry I didn’t write sooner, but I think you’ll understand I wanted to have the whole picture before I reached out, I didn’t want you to feel as if I was still missing a part of our past._

_I know I have a long road ahead of me but now I have memories to keep me motivated and warm on these cold Welsh nights._

_Do write soon Pats. I want to hear about your job, the mothers, how is Nonnatus house? Trixie? And my favorite Sister Monica Joan? I wish I could write more Pats but I feel a slight headache coming on and if I don’t lie down soon my mam will have my head._

_I promise you I will write again soon, until then stay warm Pats. I’ll be thinking of you._

_Warm wishes and sincerest regards,_

_Deels_

_~_

Warm tears slowly streaked down Patsy’s face as she read and reread the letter. On her fifth reading she started quietly laughing to herself. Her Delia was brilliant. Even recuperating from a terrible, life-threatening accident she somehow managed to write two letters in one. The first letter could be read by a stranger, or a mother, as merely a letter from one best friend to another. The other letter, the one written in-between lines and hidden the memories Delia chose to mention, was a love letter and accomplished its purpose: to make Patsy feel Delia’s love and devotion from over 200 miles away.

 

 

            _Of course it was bleach_ , Patsy giggled. It baffled her but Delia had always been fond of how Patsy always smelled faintly of the cleaning chemical.

 

 

            _Ah… the winter carnival and dance._ What a day of mixed emotions for the typically stoic woman. The high of holding Delia close as she taught her to shoot the air rifle and winning her that blasted bear, then the crushing evening of watching Delia dance around the floor with handsy doctors. It was gut wrenching, even years later Patsy could feel her stomach flip at the memory. Of course the hurt was rectified only a short while later on that fated evening when Delia showed up at her door with a bottle of contraband gin and that soft look in her eyes, the one that never failed to make Patsy weak in the knees.

           

 

            The love in the letter was so clearly evident to Patsy she was glad Mrs. Busby hadn’t read it; she wasn’t an unsophisticated woman after all and might have been able to detect the hint of desperation Delia had at being separated from Patsy.

 

 

            Wiping the renegade tears from her cheeks Patsy couldn’t help but smile at just how characteristically “Delia” Delia’s letter was. As the sun began to fade behind the buildings of Poplar, Patsy once again contemplated Delia’s own, more recent experience of radio silence. The months when Patsy was on the other side of the world dealing with her father’s rapidly declining health.

 

 

Fresh pangs of guilt shot through her heart at the thought of Delia waiting for any update or word from her. She had become so lost in her own emotions and memories while in Hong Kong she hadn’t thought of the hurt her actions had caused Delia until she saw her through the tunnel after Barbara’s wedding. The sight alone, Delia detached and her shoulders slumped, made Patsy’s heart ache. Patsy knew intimately what it was like to be left without a word from your love, with no way of knowing if she would ever return.

 

 

            She didn’t have any excuse for Delia; she didn’t even try to offer one up when they finally got an evening alone together about a week after Patsy’s return. Instead she tried her hardest to work past the emotional walls she had rebuilt over her nine months away and tried to put into words the heady combination of grief, depression, and desperation that overwhelmed her during her months in Hong Kong.

 

 

            They started to talk through their fears that night. All the tired and broken parts of their hearts, even the parts they feared would scare the other woman away. Being in the same room now (all thanks to the brick that was Nurse Crane) made it easier for them to rebuild their relationship, making it stronger than ever. It wasn’t easy or comfortable for either of them. Their guilt and resentment needed to be carefully unpacked and handled. But they both understood that their love had weathered worse and even months apart could not dampen the desire the women had for one another.

 

           

            A sharp wind pulled Patsy from her musings of the past few months back to the matter at hand, Mrs. Busby. Mrs. Busby wanted to meet her… alone. One part of Patsy, the part she wasn’t all that proud of, wanted to ignore the older woman’s letter, but the other, sensible and polite side, rationalized that an hour with Mrs. Busby was worth it if she got the rest of Delia’s missing letters.

 

 

            Patsy didn’t want to make any decisions until she talked it over with Delia first. She didn’t want any more secrets between them, not after they had worked so hard to get to where they were.

 

 

            As Patsy gathered up her lighter and secret stash of cigarettes she stopped and thought, _Goodness… how am I going to hide these from Deels…._

Alright, so maybe only one secret between them.

**Author's Note:**

> As always...  
> Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
> 
> I also want to say thank you to everyone who takes the time to read, leave kudos for, or comments on my fics, this little community has truly made my life better <3
> 
> You can find me over   
> @awkwardly-romantic . tumblr


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